Hermetically sealed containers made by a form-fill-and-seal process are known. The closure portion for such containers incorporates a unitary but removable cap situated over a container mouth at the neck portion distal end. The cap is removable by fracturing, with manually applied force, a frangible unitary web located between the cap and the container neck portion. The container manufacturing technique is well known, and is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,153 to Weiler et al.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,867 to Weiler et al. describes one such container which can be formed, filled with a liquid, and then sealed, all under continuous, commercial scale, high speed, sterile, manufacturing conditions.
For reasons associated with a desire to provide a container the contents of which can be manually compressed and distorted as an aid for dispensing a liquid fill, the walls of such a container are typically made as thin as practical. However, a problem arises when one follows the normal or intended procedure for opening such a container with manually applied force. The applied force inherently involves gripping while compressing, at least in part, the container itself. Consequently, when frangible web fracture occurs loosening the container cap, liquid contents of the container surge out through the opened container mouth before the user can relinquish the applied force. This surge usually results in an undesirable spillage and wastage of some of the liquid contents.
It would be desirable to have a hermetically sealed container that can be opened by fracturing the frangible web without using an applied force which results in such a wasteful liquid contents surge. The present invention fulfills such need.